Portrait of Dante by graffiti artist Kobra in Ravenna (image captured 2016).
Contributed by Simone Marchesi
Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
Portrait of Dante by graffiti artist Kobra in Ravenna (image captured 2016).
Contributed by Simone Marchesi
“Proponete a chiunque questo indovinello: ha un gran naso e uno strano copricapo rosso, è un protagonista della letteratura mondiale, è toscano. Chi è?
“Qualche spiritoso potrebbe deviare su Pinocchio che, a suo modo, coincide, ma tutti gli altri vi risponderanno Dante Alighieri o, più facilmente, Dante e basta.
“Un motivo in apparenza marginale, ma in realtà non così irrilevante del radicarsi della figura di Dante nell’immaginario collettivo sta proprio nel suo essere sempre e perfettamente riconoscibile quando viene rappresentato. L’abito e il copricapo rossi, la corona d’alloro, il gran naso: bastano pochi tratti, e Dante è Dante. È come se tutti i pittori che lo rappresentano avessero, nei secoli, lavorato sotto lo stretto controllo di un occhiutissimo ufficio marketing, attento a impedire qualsiasi minuscola deviazione dalle caratteristiche stabilite in una ideale Bibbia del Marchio.
“Insomma: se Dante fosse un brand (e stiamo parlando di un brand con una storia plurisecolare), potrebbe vantare una coerenza di segni che neanche la Coca Cola.” –Annamaria Testa, “Dante Alighieri e la pubblicità, tra pop e kitsch,” Nuovo e utile (2013)
Contributed by Davida Gavioli
Dante at the Roma Termini Train Station
“Now on exhibit is an engraved marble wall mural of Dante Alighieri’s INFERNO based on 70 images by nineteenth century French engraver Gustave Doré. Accompanying each scene is a corresponding verse and title in Italian with English translation. The pictorial images and lettering were burnt into the surface of black marble tiles using a laser engraving machine. The mural covers 205 square feet , the main section being 8′-6″ high by 22′-0″ long and consists of marble tiles mounted on sixteen removable wood panels. Located at Casa Galiano (the artist’s residence in East Brunswick, NJ) the mural hangs on the east wall of an art gallery addition. Each image has a specific verse chosen to best describe the scene. The mural is presented in chronological order from left to right so that the viewer can follow Dante’s journey from the dark wood to the frozen Satan. It is the artist’s intention to showcase the imagination, language and poetry of Dante’s INFERNO fused with the dramatic visual detailed artwork of Gustave Doré.” –Dino Galiano
“A sculpture garden features high relief marble carvings depicting scenes from Dante’s Divine Comedy. The centerpiece is a solid marble sculpture entitled, The Commedia Block, which is carved on all four sides showing the divisions of Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso as well as portraits of Dante, Virgil and Beatrice.” —Casa Galiano
See Casa Galiano to learn more and see additional photos.
Contributed by Dino Galiano
Contributed by Steven Bartus (Bowdoin, ’08)
All submissions will be considered for posting. Bibliographic references and scholarly essays are also welcome for consideration.
Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.